1. Prior Art
The following is a tabulation of some prior art that presently appears relevant:
Pat. No.Issue DatePatentee5,094,8611992 Mar. 10Susanne D'Auguste et al6,482,4512002 Nov. 19Peter Baron3,463,3611969 Aug. 26Donald L. Cook et al
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various flavoring devices have been developed and patented. These devices add flavors and enhance the consumption of beverages. These devices utilized various manners of securing flavoring material within its structure.
Examples of such devices may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,094,861 to D'Auguste et al wherein the drinking straw is an arrangement including a drinking tube containing a powdered flavoring laminated to an interior surface of the drinking tube for dissolving upon contact with a fluid directed through the tube, with end caps removably mounted relative to the tube for preserving freshness of the flavoring there within.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,482,451 to Baron wherein a flavoring receptacle contains a predetermined portion of flavoring agent for sale and use in conjunction with a compatible pre-packaged unflavored beverage of appropriate relative volume. The flavoring receptacle is generally elongate and tubular in shape and contains end caps. The flavoring receptacle is thereby adapted for use as a straw. Passage of the unflavored beverage through the flavoring receptacle provides for mixing with the flavoring agent to produce a flavored beverage.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,463,361 to Cook et al wherein the invention is a flavoring device comprising a conduit having an inlet and an outlet. Attached to the conduit intermediate the inlet and outlet is a chamber for receiving flavoring material. Means of communicating between the flavoring chamber and conduit are provided whereby liquid drawn into the inlet and through the conduit is contacted with the flavoring material through the aperture in the wall of the conduit prior to exit from the conduit at the outlet.
Many of these devices utilize flavor imparting materials that are in powder form or dry state. When these devices are used in flavoring beverages, the flavoring is not uniform and therefore the taste of the flavored beverage is not uniform because the powder or dry flavoring material takes some time to dissolve upon contact with beverage or fluid.
These flavored straws that exists in the market, have flavors that are in powder form. Sometimes they are clustered to form small beads or granules. The problem associated with this is when the flavor gets in contact with the beverage or water, most of the dissolved powder flavor drains back into the beverage or water because the porous partitioning holding the powder flavor in position inside the straw also allows the downward passage of dissolved powder flavor into the beverage or water thereby mixing up with the drink especially when the straw is left in the beverage or water for a short period of time this defeats the purpose of having the powder flavor in the straw
Secondly, if you drink too fast it makes the beverage or water to have limited saturation period with the flavor and leaves you with a straw full of flavor beads or powder that didn't dissolve and you end up having little or no flavor in the beverage or water you sip in. If you slurp too slowly, the flavor is too strong but you end up with half a glass of unflavored beverage or water to drink, in addition to that, one has to wait a few seconds to allow the powder flavor in the straw to dissolve in order to achieve a better flavored beverage. Moreover, these existing prior arts are usually used when drinking milk and they are not efficient enough due to design and the nature of the flavor they carry. If used to drink water, the flavor drains out at the other end of the straw faster because water increases the solubility of the flavor while milk dissolves the flavor at a slower pace. Another limitation of the existing flavored straw is that its design inadvertently put a limit on what kind of flavors it can carry thereby placing a limit on the usage. In these respects, the Flavored straw with a flavor delivery system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provide an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of providing an enhanced drinking experience.